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“Summer,” he breathes, hardly daring to move as he stares into my eyes, “I know you asked for time, and I’m giving it to you. But tell me you won’t fight our bond forever. As long as I know there’s hope, I can deal with the agony of not being able to have you. To claim you the way every cell in my body demands.”
“You talk like I’m something to be possessed and used up, but that’s not love.”
“What we share will never be simple. It’s always going to be messy and complicated and dangerous.”
“When I heard you calling for me, everything faded away but you, and I knew in that moment that I would burn down the entire fucking Everwilde to protect you.”
“The best spellcasters in Everwilde layered the soulstone with wards to trap my grandfather’s soul inside. Even with all the pieces of the axe, it would take the most powerful Soulmancer in existence to break through those wards.”
“And that is . . .?” I raise my eyebrows, wondering if this Soulmancer is famous in the Fae world or something. Valerian finally meets my stare without looking away. “You.”
“I promise you, there will come a time when you realize we’re meant to be together for eternity, Princess. And when you do, when you finally accept what you know is true, I’m going to lock you away and spend a full week proving you made the right decision.”
“Someday,” he whispers into my ear as he passes, “I’m going to find a really, really creative way to punish you for that smart mouth.”
“Because you gave him the one thing that could hurt him again—the burden of caring. And that terrifies him more than anything.”
“You’re my friend. My family. You’re not perfect, but neither am I, and the only way we’ll survive this academy is together. Do you understand?”
“Not always.” “How could you want something so fragile when the magic of the soulbond is unshakeable, growing stronger with time, not weaker?”
“Yes, mortal love isn’t perfect. It’s messy and complicated and not driven by magic, but choice. The choice to commit to one another forever. The choice to stay when life gets hard. When the other falls ill or gets fat or depressed or—the point is, it’s a choice between two people, not some magical bond.”
“You say you want irrational love, but I would give my life for you, my eternal mate. Why is that not enough for you?”
“You’re my mate, Summer, and I’ll never give up until you’re by my side. Your fight is my fight. Your people are my people. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove I deserve you . . . even if that means . . . daring to love you.”
“Everything you said was true. You’re vain. Selfish. Sometimes a bastard. And Fae to the core.” I pull back, just enough that he can see my face. “But you’re my bastard. My Fae. My mate. I thought forcing you to say you loved me would mend a wound that wasn’t yours to mend.”
“I will never leave you. I will never hurt you. I can’t. You’re a part of me. I don’t know if that’s love or something else, something so rare it doesn’t have a name.”
